Serenity Now!!!

“The Devil never rejoices more than when he robs a servant of God of his peace of heart.” – Francis of Assisi

Stillness is vital to survival. In society today, we hear quite the opposite message day and night, from the masses that derive significance within achievement and attainment. The message of today is much like the yelling of Jerry Stiller in Seinfeld, “Serenity Now!!!” We do not wish to slow down, or be halted, we want peace and quiet at the same level of demand as our skinny vanilla latte from Starbucks. From the alarm ringing to wake us, to the late night five minutes of status updates on social networks; we seem to operate on a constant flow of jam packed living that fills our days with a wealth of activity, but very little substance. In the press of busyness, we are distracted and directed by the multitudinous details which demand attention. We are divided and determined in the face of agendas, meetings, goals, responsibilities and requirements; all of which require us to have the elements of each situation under control. This is survival in the illusions of the “fittest:” One must be a high output operator in society, rampantly applying self-modifications and social modalism for achieving security and the conquering of endless demands in exchanging who we are for what we are doing. Adding to this are the coveted moments of rest between pressing details; yet when these moments are found as busyness subsides, we hear the sting of self-doubt, the bidding to do more or be more, discontentment, and diversion in the echoes of silence. The voices of low self-esteem, loneliness, our bulging waistline, or how weary and tired we are, whisper to us as we try to sleep and recover from our perpetual pursuit of achievement. We long for an escape. Unfortunately for most, the form of rescue becomes the pursuit of recovery through vice; entertainment, sports, food, drugs, vacations, alcohol, self-realization, adrenaline rich activities and purchasing things. We ultimately construct distractions for our conscious reality away from our true needs to the momentary sublimation of immediate perspective and redirection of our attention to another path of success. It is in the search for rest and the quest for peace, when we seek a new achievement or acquisition to appease our activities that we end up discontent, restless and anxious; forced to return to the press of busyness drained rather than reenergized. What truly escapes us in these moments is stillness.

Stillness is a reward amidst the harried halls of our lives. Stillness is a place of replenishment. Stillness is a gift from our Creator who intimately knows the depths of our hearts and our true needs. The Lord God Almighty, who has enumerated the hairs on our heads, omnisciently cares for his creation. He has made us with a capacity to be still in interaction with Him. This is a place where we hear Him, a place where we feel his love and a place where his peace covers our anxious hearts. He is the God of Psalm 46; who calls us to be still and know Him for who He is:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

The Evil One works in distraction. He battles within levels perspective and focus. He prowls as a lion, not with the tools of terror and atrocities, but with the illusions of the appealing, the apogee of “spiritual” experience and distractions of the appearance of good, rather than the existence of good. He robs us of stillness. These are the moments where we succumb to the press of spiritual busyness, straining to find connection, rather than resting in the Lord. This is where we feel frustrated and distanced in our efforts and rituals for drawing our hearts near to God, and experience the subtle distraction of disconnection in the self-centering of our pursuit. Our goal is not to drive ourselves to successful holiness, propel our desires to greater righteousness or modify our actions to gain the calculated result of clarity amidst the turbulent times of our lives; we are called to be still. In the words of the NASB, “Cease striving,” and be confident in his ability to be God. We are called to come as children to the Father, confident in the fortress of security He is in our lives. The distractions of the Evil One confuse us into replacing our achievement or activity at the fulcrum of nearness to God. This could not be further from the truth. It is God who calms, God who acts, God who gives mercy and God who speaks. He has called us to be still in his presence and know Him in the calm of Almighty existence.

Brennan Manning tells a story alluding to the confusion we face amidst the press of busyness and the distance we create by seeking God’s response to our achieving instead our response to God’s calling for stillness.

“There was a harried executive who sought a cave dwelling hermit for advice. He sat with the desert secluded mystic complaining about his frustration in prayer, his flawed virtue, and his failed relationships. The holy man listened closely to his visitor’s story of struggle, conflict and disappointments in trying to lead a Christian life and inability to achieve spiritual peace about his pursuits. The hermit then went into the dark recesses of his cave and came out with a basin and a pitcher of water.

“Now watch the water as I pour it into the basin,” he said. The water splashed on the bottom and against the sides of the container. It was agitated and turbulent. At first the stirred-up water swirled around and inside of the basin; then it gradually began to settle, until finally the small fast ripples evolved into gentle swells that oscillated back and forth. Eventually, the surface became so smooth that the visitor could see his face reflected in the placid water. “That is the way it is when you live constantly in the midst of others,” said the hermit. “You do not see yourself as you really are because of all the confusion and disturbance. You fail to recognize the divine presence in your life and the consciousness of your belovedness slowly fades. Learning to understand the true self means coming to grips with the importance of patience, the importance of waiting, the importance of being alone and the importance of silence; most of all, it means recognizing that the gift of stillness comes from God Himself. He has promised that those who seek Him will find Him.”

This is true in our lives as well. Our efforts to control or actively contribute to the areas of demand in our lives often rob us of peace and distract us from laying our burdens at the feet of our Holy Refuge. Fortunately for us, God became flesh and knows the exact experience of being in the midst of turmoil. Christ experienced the hatred of insult slinging Pharisees, the demands of miracles and the thankless receptors, the slander of his reputation over actions and associations and attempts to undermine his authority through mockery, deception and entrapment. In Christ moments of need, He secluded Himself to the stillness of the Father’s presence. He sought the presence of the Father to gain peace and perspective. He did not speak of his own interpretation of his experience or justify his right to certain treatment or benefit; He only required stillness in the Father’s presence. Just as Christ submitted his will to that of the Father’s, we must also seek Him as the source of our restoration. We cannot hasten the action of the Lord by our accomplishments or our abilities. We must come as we are – tired, frustrated, maxxed-out and busy, and sit before Him as little children: Confident in his provision and secure in his presence.

The Kingdom of God is found in those who have stopped trying to appear to have it all together; who have traded their achievements (which impress others and themselves) for the stillness of God’s unmerited provision. Whether the demands are the successful accolade of ingenuity and excellence in the workplace, or the ascetic narcissism of spiritual perfectionism, full of the split infinitive of humble boasting; we must rest with our security placed wholly in Him. We must hear the words of the Father drawing us to come out of the busyness of ourselves, and back to the stillness in Him; “Cease striving and know me for who I am. I am the Almighty, Sovereign Lord.” Let us approach Him with confidence and rest in his presence as his adopted sons and daughters. Let us be still, cease striving and know Him, his peace and his provision. As Thomas Merton put it, “Quit keeping score all together and surrender yourself to God; who sees neither the score nor the score keeper, but only his child redeemed by Christ.”